The Indians finally got some hits Tuesday night, but their timing was off as they lost 6-3 to the Kansas City Royals. "We got some hits but didn't bunch them together, and we rolled into those double plays," Tribe Manager Terry Francona said. "We were one big hit away from doing some damage, but we couldn't get that hit." The Indians, who had a total of 10 hits in their previous two games combined, exploded for 12 hits Tuesday night, their most hits in a game since Aug. 14. However, they also grounded into three double plays, which stalled some rallies, not to mention the Tribe's push toward the playoffs. Tampa Bay, Baltimore and the Indians all lost Tuesday, so the Rays still lead the Indians and Orioles by 1 1/2 games for the second wildcard spot. There haven't been many clunky starts by Indians starting pitchers the last few months. There was Tuesday night, however, as Zach McAllister staggered through five innings, giving up four runs on six hits and three walks. The loss drops his record to 7-9. McAllister is the only Indians starting pitcher who is currently struggling. In his last three starts he is 0-2 with an 8.78 ERA. "He didn't have his best changeup and he left some balls up in his last inning," Francona said. The Indians took a 1-0 lead in the first inning against former Tribe top draft pick (2002) Jeremy Guthrie. Guthrie retired the first two batters in the first inning, but the Indians then strung together three consecutive two-out singles to score a run. Jason Kipnis, Carlos Santana and Michael Brantley had the hits, with Brantley's single driving in Kipnis. McAllister retired the side on nine pitches in the first inning and held the Royals scoreless on one hit through the first four innings, but it was all downhill for him after that. In the fifth, that noted slugger Alcides Escobar hit a 400-foot home run over the left field wall to tie it at 1-1. The home run was the first by Escobar in his last 467 at-bats, a streak that goes back to April 28, when he hit his last home run, against - yep - the Indians. McAllister gave up hits to five of the last eight batters he faced, and it started with the Escobar home run. In the sixth inning McAllister faced four batters and didn't retire any of them. He got ahead in the count 0-2 to Eric Hosmer leading off that inning, but wound up walking him. "I got ahead and maybe nibbled too much and he didn't chase any of them," McAllister said. Billy Butler doubled into the left field corner to put runners at second and third with no outs. Mike Moustakas then snapped his 0-for-16 hitless streak with a double into the right field corner, scoring Hosmer and Butler and giving the Royals a 3-1 lead. Salvador Perez followed that with a single that scored Moustakas to make it 4-1, and shower time for McAllister. "I was good for five innings and in the sixth they hurt me," McAllister said. "I was a little erratic the whole game." Nick Hagadone relieved McAllister and the Royals scored a run off Hagadone in the seventh to stretch their lead to 5-1. Alex Gordon led off with an infield single, went to second on a groundout and to third on an infield single by Hosmer. Butler's sacrifice fly drove in Gordon and Kansas City had a 5-1 lead. The Indians, meanwhile, could do little against Guthrie, mostly because they kept hitting into double plays. The Indians pulled the plug on their own rallies by hitting into double plays in the third, fourth and sixth innings. The Indians finally did some damage in the seventh inning against the Royals bullpen. Yan Gomes led off the inning with a single off Kelvin Herrera. Jason Kubel struck out, but Lonnie Chisenhall singled, his third hit of the game, moving Gomes to third. Michael Bourn then drove a double into the left-center field gap, scoring Gomes and Chisenhall and cutting the Kansas City lead to 5-3. Luke Hochevar relieved Herrera and struck out Nick Swisher and Kipnis to end the inning. Hochevar pitched 1 2/3 innings, faced five batters and struck out all of them. The Royals added an insurance run in the eighth inning off CC Lee. Akron native David Lough tripled and scored on a single by Escobar. Greg Holland pitched the ninth inning to pick up his 41st save.